Youth wrestling programs set foundation for varsity success

Hudson High School wrestling coach Scott Marry has seen the benefits from a youth wrestling program at all angles.

Marry was eight years old when he first wrestled under former Hudson varsity coach Pat Malarney in the 1970s, and he has coached young wrestlers at Hudson since he took over as head coach in 1990.

Now, as an observer of other prep wrestling teams in Lenawee County, he also sees it paying dividends for them.

“It’s huge,” Marry said. “That’s a lot of it. If everyone gets on the same page and pushes each other’s competition a level up, all that’s going to do is make us all work a little harder. If we all work a little harder, then we’re all going to keep getting better.”

The teams have gotten on the same page, and Marry is partly to thank for that. Ten years ago, he helped create the Lenawee County youth circuit, which has tournaments in March and April.

Each Lenawee County wrestling team is represented with youth wrestlers. Hudson, Clinton. Madison, Morenci, Sand Creek and Addison are local schools that were set to host events this season.

“I wanted to push the whole county up,” Marry said. “I just didn’t want Hudson and Addison to be good. I wanted Madison, Clinton, Onsted, Blissfield — I wanted us all to be good.”

Lenawee County is only home to 2.1 percent of the wrestling teams in Michigan, with 471 in the state, according to the MHSAA in 2013. But the county has done anything but bottle up their success.

An average of 4.9 percent of the wrestlers who have placed per season in the state tournament over the last five years were from Lenawee County schools.

The grooming begins for local wrestlers as early as three years old and can go as late as eighth grade.

There is no better evidence of how important a youth program is for a varsity team than the effort put forth by David Pearce, who is in his third year as head wrestling coach for Onsted.

“Right now, Onsted doesn’t really have that tradition or history in wrestling like the other programs,” Pearce said. “So I have to kind of run the whole show for now and then eventually work my way out of it when I find someone I can trust to run it for me.”

While some wrestling programs designate their assistant coaches to lead the youth wrestling programs or at least have them help, Pearce only has middle school coach Paul Denkins to aid him for the most part.

In addition to leading the youth wrestling club, Pearce coaches Onsted wrestlers in the Michigan Youth Wrestling Association, which has tournaments from November to March and features wrestlers from local schools.

“Youth programs are huge in making the varsity programs look good,” Pearce said. “If you look at what Tecumseh’s had, close to a hundred kids in a club. That’s huge because those kids come up and are ready to compete right away.”

It is easy to be envious of Tecumseh, which has seven to nine coaches for its youth wrestling program according to Larry Patton, the head coach and program founder.

But Patton said the numbers did not loom as large at the start when he began the club in 2004 with Todd Amstutz and nine wrestlers to train.

“At the time, our superintendent was Mike McAran, and he was more supportive than anyone,” Patton said. “He basically gave me a key to the building and as much leeway as he could for me to start the program.”

The sentiment on how to run a successful youth wrestling program and keep kids coming back was similar among youth coaches across Lenawee County.

It is important to teach youngsters the basics of wrestling and improve their physical fitness. Marry said 40 years ago it was much of the same when Malarney was Hudson’s coach.

“The No. 1 thing Pat instilled in everybody is to condition the kids and get them in good shape and give them basic technique,” Marry said. “If you have the baseline that everyone can do, then you’re going to have a good program.”

Hudson wrestler JD Waters reflected on all of the years he spent wrestling after he won a state championship this month.

Waters said there is importance in learning the ins and outs of wrestling early on.

“It was where I learned all the basics,” Waters said. “Then, once I got older, I could add strength and better technique.”

But what holds equal importance to improving skills is showing children that the sport can be as enjoyable as mainstream sports, said Sand Creek assistant coach Zach Knapp.

“The main thing for the youth is to have fun,” Knapp said. “We want to get them to like it and get them to tell their friends about it. They’re the best recruiting tool.”

Hudson assistant coach Trey Reuter, in his third year coaching youth wrestlers, has many ways of creating a good experience.

“We’ll go through warm-ups and do all of our routine and do all the moves and in the last 10, 15 minutes we’re basically playing around,” Reuter said. “They’re mostly different wrestling games, but that’s where you gets kids joking, laughing and having a good time.”

Addison is grouped with Hudson in regards to having a youth program that has sustained for many years.

Matt Seiser started the Addison youth wrestling club 17 years ago because his two sons wanted to wrestle, and he still has a role in the club in addition to being head varsity wrestling coach at Addison.

The coaches mentioned the benefits for their school, neighboring schools and the wrestlers. But how they are rewarded, Seiser said, is from seeing the trajectory of their wrestlers firsthand from child to young man.

“You spend a lot of time with those kids, and you go through a lot of your life with them,” Seiser said. “So it’s pretty awesome.”